Alice Wanders said she “wasn’t horrified or disgusted” by the experience.

“It was fascinating, except for the smell, we didn’t expect it to smell this bad,” she said.

“This was a fairly fresh specimen so the smell isn’t as bad as an animal that’s been on a beach for a couple of days,” Dr Evans said.

“A really decomposed animal can smell like rancid parmesan cheese … [that is] the best way to describe it.”

Dr Karen Evans oversees the procedure, which took part on the CSIRO research ship Investigator. ABC News: Aneeta Bhole

The dolphin was donated by DPIPWE and had been sitting in a freezer for almost a year before the procedure.

Marine Conservation Program’s Kris Carlyon said the Environment Department takes samples and provides them for research worldwide.

“We get a standard set of samples from all whales and dolphins that we investigate,” he said.

“Normally we’re doing this procedure on a beach and we take some skin, some blubber, a range of internal organ samples, we take some teeth and each one of those samples gives us some specific information.”

Mr Carlyon said skin provides genetic information, blubber indicates toxins and potential pollutants that build up in the tissue, while teeth can reveal age of the animal.

“It all helps build a picture of the health of that animal, it’s ecology and what it’s been doing prior to stranding.”

While you’re at it…

2 comments

tamarakelly

6th December 2017 at 7:54 pm

Years ago i found dolphin in the supermarket fridge in Japan …sooo…I bought some. I have a REALLY strong stomach and have eaten some very strange things but dolphin was truly an experience. It was a beefy texture which tasted like bad fish crossed with liver. It is definitely an acquired taste.